Paleo Diet: Fruit instead of beans?

I've been doing Occams for 4 week's and am fairly happy with the results (10 lbs weight gain so far + 2" on chest) but I have some extra fat around the tum tum and will be switching to the slow carb diet soon. I'm a bit nervous about making the switch for the reasons:

- I hate beans

- Beans aren't very portable/ practical (can't be easily thrown into a backpack)

- Seem like beans are the ONLY source of carbs on the SCD

I don't know a lot about Paleo but it seems like it's the SCD except you get to have fruit instead of beans. And:

- I love fruit

- Fruit is easily portable

- And, again, I hate beans

Does anyone have any thoughts/ experience regarding doing SCD with fruit instead of beans?

The Best Answer

I've been losing fat on the Paleo Diet (no legumes), eating plenty of fruit. 6-pack is starting to show after 3 months. Fruit is not equal to fruit juice, which is what Tim measured in his book. There is far more fibre in fruit than fructose, and I believe you get a net gain for fat loss.

Professor Robert H. Lustig, M.D., of the University of California at San Francisco is an anti-fructose advocate, but advises that whole fruit is just fine. See his lecture, "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" starting at 1:12:53.

All Answers

My suggestion is to try slow carb, beans and all, for two weeks. If you really can't do it for that short space of time, try lentils instead. They are very portable, once they are bought/simmered you can put them into a small tupperware container with some proteins just as easily as fruit. They aren't the only source of carbs on this diet because of the vegetables, but they are a good source of energy while actually contributing to the weight loss (i know through experimentation).

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I would have thought that the point of the paleo diet was to imitate man's primitive diet. Fruit was not available all year round way back when! (I know that beans weren't either). If you really can't handle beans i would suggest doing either paleo or SCD to avoid wasting time!

Paleo is not the fruit but lots of green vegies and starchy vegies post glycogen-depleting exercises. Fruit no good if you want to lose fat. You can have fruit on Paleo but limited amounts. Its more about animal protein and fats plus good amount of vegies.

I've had a similar experience when I was eating paleo for a long time with lots of fruits and no legumes and lost tons of fat. Everyone on the paleo diet looses fat I mean the can't all be lying. Having said that I find it much easier to eat slow carb as I'm not feeling deprived at all. Also I have more muscle now but my workouts are not different so I guess the slow carb diet can eat away the fat and spare the muscle better than paleo.

If you're feeling deprived on the Paleo diet, then you're probably not eating enough fat. Fat is very satiating. Having said that, the Paleo diet is not a fat loss program. Eating legumes (SCD) could be causing you harm, due to the lectins they contain.

Don't do it. It's not the carbs in the fruit that keep it out of SCD but the fructose. The fructose inhibits fat loss and if that is the reason you are switching from Occams then your results will be slowed. You are better off getting a fruit flavored, sugar free, protein powder.

"The energy" in both diets comes from ketones, which comes from burning fat. After you get over the carb hangover, you can operate on fat quite well. In fact, muscles prefer keytones over glucose as a fuel source.

This article explains why people get "The Low Carb Flu": http://is.gd/A1RVKC You can expedite the process by exercising. Especially, IMO, before breakfast. It helps train your metabolism to burn fat instead of sugar.

When I went strict Paleo -- no legumes, grains, dairy, refined sugar, or processed food -- I was moody and low energy for 2-3 weeks. I kept exercising anyways, and ate more fruit for recovery. Mood eventually stabilized, more energy now, leaner, stronger

I've been hoping you'd respond! For about 3 days I cut beans out of the SCD & everything went south--tired moody. Was I not getting enough calories? If I feel like I'm in ketones now--I eat about a cup of beans a day--

hmm....you make a strong argument. And I guess if you look at it as 2-3 weeks of lower energy for a healthier lifestyle it's an easy answer. I still have some body compositions goals to hit which will mean decreased body fat. If Paleo isn't geared at